http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_oscars;_ylt=AhABYxxWHpoT3.edLwB6cL6mG78C;_ylu=X3oDMTJ1ajJ1MGh0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMzA4L3VzX29zY2FycwRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzMEcG9zAzMEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNiYXN0ZXJkc3N0YXI-
`Basterds' star Waltz wins supporting-actor Oscar
By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer David Germain, Ap Movie Writer
LOS ANGELES – Christoph Waltz won the supporting-actor Academy Award
on Sunday for his role as a sociable fiend of a Nazi in "Inglourious
Basterds," while the blockbuster "Up" was named best animated feature.
The first award of Oscar night went to Austrian-born Waltz, a veteran
stage and television actor in Europe who had been virtually unknown in
Hollywood before Quentin Tarantino cast him as the prattling, ruthless
Jew-hunter Hans Landa in his World War II saga.
His award was presented by last season's supporting-actress winner,
Penelope Cruz, who gave Waltz a kiss as he took the stage.
"Oscar and Penelope. That's an uber-bingo," Waltz said.
The Iraq War drama "The Hurt Locker" won its first category of the
night, original screenplay for Mark Boal, who spun a story about the
perils and pressures of a U.S. bomb unit in Iraq.
With nine nominations, "The Hurt Locker" tied for the Oscar lead with
the science-fiction epic "Avatar." The competition between the
front-runners does not heat up until later in the night, the two films
nominated in categories that mostly come in the second half of the
Oscar show.
The evening's last two categories, best director and picture, mark the
two films' main rivalry, which is spiced up by a personal connection
between "Hurt Locker" director Kathryn Bigelow and "Avatar" director
James Cameron. They were married from 1989-91.
Cameron took the directing prize at the Golden Globes, but Bigelow
earned the top honor from the Directors Guild of America, whose
recipient almost always wins the same award at the Oscars.
If it happens, Bigelow would be the first woman in the 82-year history
of the Oscars to win best director.
Screenwriter Boal thanked Bigelow, calling her an "extraordinary and
visionary filmmaker," and dedicated his Oscar win to the troops still
in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with those who did not make it home.
Boal also affectionately recalled his father, who died a month ago.
For Waltz, an Oscar seemed a foregone conclusion since last May, when
"Inglourious Basterds" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won
him the acting prize there.
Waltz delivers a virtuoso performance as charming but deadly
opportunist Landa, expertly flinging about Tarantino's manic dialogue
in four different languages.
The actor creates one of the great screen heavies, a lovably loathsome
psycho who gets an agonizing comeuppance at the hands of Brad Pitt,
playing the leader of a band of Allied Jewish commandos that
terrorizes the enemy, collecting German scalps and carving swastikas
into Nazis' foreheads.
"Quentin with his unorthodox methods of navigation, this fearless
explorer, took this ship across and brought it in with flying colors,
and that's why I'm here," Waltz said. "This is your welcoming embrace,
and there's no way I can ever thank you enough."
On the Net:
Academy Awards: http://www.oscars.org
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